


I need to know everything about you

by HopeSilverheart



Series: Loving Em at 2AM [51]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: (but how forced is it really going to be), Alternate Universe - Human, Banter, Boys In Love, Disaster Gays, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Fools in Love, Friendship, Humour, International Relations, M/M, Modern Royalty, Oblivious Alec Lightwood, Politician Alec, Pre-Slash, Prince Magnus, Red White and Royal Blue Fusion, Teasing, forced friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:40:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25041037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeSilverheart/pseuds/HopeSilverheart
Summary: “Oh come on, it’ll be fine. You’ve been wanting to spend time with him and get him to like you for so long, and now’s your chance to actually do that!”Magnus sighed and slumped back onto his bed, closing his eyes in an attempt to shut his best friend out of his thoughts. Right now all he wanted to do was wallow in his misery and insecurities alone. He knew he shouldn’t, knew he should be getting ready for his trip and enjoying the quality time he had left with his cousin, but he couldn’t.He couldn’t, because he was going to be forced into spending a week with a handsome man who couldn’t have cared less about him. A man whose sole purpose in life seemed to be getting on Magnus’ nerves.Or: After Alec and Magnus cause an international scandal, they are forced into a friendship to soothe ruffled feathers.
Relationships: Clary Fray & Alec Lightwood, Magnus Bane & Catarina Loss, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Simon Lewis & Alec Lightwood
Series: Loving Em at 2AM [51]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1764400
Comments: 12
Kudos: 97





	I need to know everything about you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thatnerdemryn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatnerdemryn/gifts).



After the fourth of July and the catastrophic turn in events, Magnus had known there would be serious consequences, both personally and publicly.

The second week of July was spent in England, trying to make sure he was still seen as the beloved prince of the people, international disasters aside. He went from town to town, attended dozens of charity events, and forced smiles onto is face for the papers. He had known it would happen, but it didn’t make it any more pleasant to deal with.

As much as Magnus loved the attention, he hated being thrown into the limelight by his grandmother and father, both of whom loved to plaster pictures of their perfect poster prince everywhere. It was infuriating and it made Magnus’ spine crawl uncomfortably, because it never failed to remind him of what he truly was to them: a publicity stunt, the redemption they needed after his mother’s untimely suicide.

Still, he had expected something along those lines, and he wasn’t surprised when his father insisted he even fly internationally to soothe the ruffled feathers of people who had been ‘shocked’ by the firework display. However, he knew no cost would be greater than the one he would have to pay to the United States.

The President had taken him aside after Alexander had re-joined the party and had warned him that she couldn’t do _nothing_ about the events, no matter how much she liked Magnus. Frankly Magnus hadn’t even known she liked him at _all_ , given the way her son acted towards him, but he had been thankful for the heads-up nevertheless.

It meant that when he received instructions from his PR team to start making friends with Alexander in public, he wasn’t surprised. He had expected the first son to be involved somehow, since he was part of the scandal in the first place. It didn’t mean he wasn’t sceptical about the plan, because really… Alexander and he, playing nice for their people? No one would buy it.

They had been ‘rivals’ ever since they had first met, Alexander disliking Magnus from the get-go, and there was no way their friendship would ever pass of as genuine. If it had been anyone else, there might have been a chance, but Magnus knew that a civil relationship between he and Alexander was doomed before it even began.

After all, he had been trying to make things right between the two of them for years. If he hadn’t succeeded so far, he didn’t see why anything would change just because of a publicity stunt that even he didn’t believe in. All he had ever wanted was to become friends with Alexander the natural way, by wearing off on him and showing him he wasn’t all bad, but now that would be ruined by a stupid scandal they could have avoided in the first place.

He glared at the paper his equerry had handed him, the title _FSOTUS Alexander Lightwood-Trueblood Fact Sheet_ written neatly at the top, followed by an absurdly long list of things Magnus was expected to memorise.

“You could look a little happier about this, you know?”

Magnus’ head snapped up toward his cousin, best friend and long-time partner in crime Catarina as she walked into his bedroom, a smile curling at the edge of her lips. She shook her head at his disgusted expression as he waved the list around and snatched it away from him, her eyebrows rising higher and higher as her eyes trailed down the piece of paper.

“Are you sure Ragnor didn’t just give you a sheet fact about himself?” She snickered, pointing at one particular fact on the list. “I mean, _1984_? For some reason, I thought your Alexander’s tastes would be a little less…”

“18-year-old boy fresh out of high school? Yeah well, so did I,” Magnus shrugged, reaching out towards the list again and pouting when Catarina determinedly kept it out of his reach. “Cat, please, I have to learn this by tomorrow and am in no mood to deal with your teasing. Besides, don’t you want to spend our last day together doing something a little more interesting than analysing Alexander?”

“You’ll be gone for a week, Magnus, stop being such a drama queen,” Catarina rolled her eyes. “And no, I can’t think of anything more interesting, actually. You’ve been obsessed with this boy ever since he first spited you, and I want to know everything there is to know about him. I hope this little scandal means he’ll also have to come over to England at some point; I’ve been dying to meet him for years.”

“You could have just accompanied me to DC for the party,” Magnus pointed out, closing his eyes as he tried to remember when Alexander and his family had moved into the White House. “Really, the only person you can blame for not having met Alexander yet is yourself. Hell, I might just blame you for the scandal as well, since none of this would have happened if you had been by my side.”

“As if having people around has ever stopped Alec and you from getting into heated debates,” Catarina snorted. “Wait, this says you guys met for the first time during his mother’s election campaign… I thought you saw him for the first time on the day of the election itself; Magnus, have you been lying to me?”

“Of course not,” Magnus scoffed, shoving all memories of that first meeting to the back of his mind and hoping his best friend didn’t see through the deception. “But back to the list, what else does it say on there? I’ve been trying to figure his family out for the past half hour, but I swear they’re even more complicated than whatever is going on with your parents, which is saying something.”

“Oh yeah, remarriages are a pain,” Catarina winced, scanning over the paper and cheering victoriously when she found the correct line. “Alright, this says his parents are-”

“Maryse Trueblood and Robert Lightwood, yes, I know that. I’ve known him for quite a while now Cat; if I wasn’t aware of his parents names, we’d have a real issue. I also know he has a biological sister named Isabelle and an adopted brother whose name is… Chase or Jason or something along those lines. But then there’s Luke Garroway, his step-father, and Clarissa, who I’m pretty sure isn’t even his biological child.”

“Seriously, Magnus?” Catarina threw her hands in the air exasperatedly. “There was a huge scandal back when President Trueblood decided to marry Garroway. His ex – and now deceased – wife Jocelyn Fray was married to none other than Valentine Morgenstern in her youth, which threw the entire country into a fit of rage.”

“Wait… Valentine the serial-killer?” Magnus gaped. “I had no idea Alexander’s family was _that_ interesting! How on earth am I supposed to compete with that?! All I have is a dead mother, an overbearing grandmother, and a father who couldn’t care less about me. I don’t even have a sibling.”

“But you have me,” Catarina said sweetly, batting her eyelashes at him and cackling when Magnus scrunched his face up in mock-distaste. “Oh come on, it’ll be fine. You’ve been wanting to spend time with him and get him to like you for so long, and now’s your chance to actually do that!”

Magnus sighed and slumped back onto his bed, closing his eyes in an attempt to shut his best friend out of his thoughts. She had an irritating tendency to always know what was going on with him, but right now all he wanted to do was wallow in his misery and insecurities alone. He knew he shouldn’t, knew he should be getting ready for his trip and enjoying the quality time he had left with his cousin, but he couldn’t.

He couldn’t, because his mind was stuck replaying every moment of his relationship – and rivalry – with Alexander, wondering if he could have done better in the past. Wondering if he could have avoided this entire situation by becoming friends with Alexander a long time ago. Wondering if he could have been bolder, braver, less teasing, a little more like the kind of people Alexander undoubtedly liked.

He couldn’t, because he was going to be forced into spending a week with a handsome man who couldn’t have cared less about him. A man whose sole purpose in life seemed to be getting on Magnus’ nerves.

He was Magnus Bane-Mountchristen-Windsor, a prince by blood, by name, and by duty, but he couldn’t focus on the things he had to do for his country because he was – stupidly, ridiculously, unfortunately – smitten with Alexander.

And now he was going to have to act like the man was his friend even though the two of them couldn’t be trusted in the same country together, let alone in the same room. Catarina could be as optimistic as she wanted to be, but Magnus knew better.

Things weren’t going to end well.

* * *

“I’m sorry, but who on earth reads that much poetry?”

Clary and Simon snickered at Alec as he waved the _HRH Prince Magnus Fact Sheet_ around, his fingers itching to rip it into pieces. Either everything on that list was completely false, or Alec had truly overestimated how interesting Magnus could be when he wasn’t being an ass to Alec. From the articles he had read – and no, it wasn’t stalking, it was just a way for Alec to make sure he was up to date on his rival – Magnus was nothing if not a partier at heart.

Yes, he maintained an impeccable front on the outside, but Alec had read all the stories. He had heard all about his failed love stories and his attempts at losing himself in countless crowds of sweaty people. It was one of the reasons he despised the man so much.

How dare he act like Alec was the one hiding behind masks when he plastered a perfect smile onto his face every time there were cameras around, only to act like- Like an arrogant prick when he was left alone with Alec?

“You guys are no help,” he grumbled, throwing one of his pillows at his best friends and chuckling lowly when they dodged it and bumped into each other instead. “I called you here because I needed someone to vent with me about Magnus, but all you’ve done is make fun of me and praise him for his wonderful tastes. I mean, _escargots_ , really? Could he get any more pretentious?”

“At least his favourite food isn’t an ‘everything’ sundae,” Clary sniggered quietly, completely ignoring Alec’s annoyed gaze. “I mean, how do you think he reacted to _that_?”

“I doubt that Lydia would have put anything like that into my fact sheet,” Alec rolled his eyes, although he reminded himself to ask his friend and bodyguard about it later. “Besides, as long as they didn’t make me out to be some self-centred asshole, I think I’ll be fine. It’s not like I’m trying to impress Magnus with facts about myself. This friendship will be over in two months, once the scandal has died down, and then I can forget all about his seven different cousins, favourite place in Kensington, and endless list of hobbies.”

“Ooh, you didn’t show us those,” Simon grinned, making grabby hands towards the list and sighing heavily when Alec only raised his eyebrows at him. “Can you really blame us for wanting to know more about this guy? You two have been competing with each other over just about anything for the past five or so years, and I just want to make sure you chose a suitable rival.”

“I find it cute that both of you still think there’s a competition going on,” Clary smirked. “After all, everyone else knows that Magnus comes out triumphant of every single one of your debates and arguments.”

“That’s because he’s a two-faced liar who puts on a pretty smile and charms everyone into agreeing with him!” Alec exclaimed, refusing to let his sister slander him like this. “In the meantime, almost everyone views me as this dark and mysterious guy who likes to snap at everyone. Don’t get me wrong, the public loves a brooding man, but it also means I look like the bad guy no matter what Magnus does!”

“Or maybe you look like the bad guy because you’re the one who always starts things?” Simon suggested, raising his hands in the air innocently when Alec shot him one of his patented death glared. “I’m just saying, man, that Magnus is always unfailingly polite to me when I see him.”

Alec groaned and face-planted onto his bed. Apparently, even his best friends were going to side with Magnus on this one, which meant Alec was going to have to deal with his frustration alone. He would have asked Isabelle, but she was busy with school and scarily similar to Magnus, so he wasn’t about to take that risk. Jace would just laugh at him and tell him to take full advantage of this friendship to get on Magnus’ nerves which – while tempting – couldn’t happen.

That had left him with Clary and Simon, but they were proving to be completely useless too.

“Don’t look so glum,” Clary huffed. “We’ll always be on your side, Alec; we’re just saying that maybe this is a blessing in disguise. Maybe it’s your chance to figure out whether or not what Magnus and you share is truly animosity, or if there might be something else you both missed. Your fights were amusing at first, and they’re still entertaining once in a while, but can you truly tell me that a relationship like that satisfies you? You used to look up to Magnus, remember?”

“ _Used to_ , past tense,” Alec grit his teeth. “That was before I met him and found out he was a dick. Well, to me at least.”

“You know what they say about kids who pull on each other’s braids, don’t you?” Clary grinned, waggling her eyebrows at him. “Maybe you just fluster him so much that he panics and says the wrong thing. Kind of like you, now that I think about it. Are you sure you guys don’t just secretly love each other? _Wait_ , have you been in a relationship this whole time and only pretended to hate each other to maintain your covers as two Very Straight Men?”

“As if there’s anything straight about Alec,” Simon piped up, gesturing at Alec’s whole body. “Every single bone on that man is gay, and it’s a wonder no one has figured it out yet. I swear I knew from the very first time I saw you.”

“That’s a lie,” Alec drawled. “I had to tell you and then deal with your annoying support and questions and incessant talking for half a day. I still regret telling you to this day, although I’m impressed you haven’t accidentally slipped and told someone yet. But even if there’s nothing straight about me, there’s definitely something straight about Magnus.”

“Maybe,” Clary shrugged. “That’s certainly what his fact sheet seems to be saying. There are way too many girlfriends on that list for all of them to be real. That screams of a cover-up, and I’m not saying it necessarily points towards your Prince Charming being at least somewhat gay, but…”

“But that’s exactly what you’re saying,” Alec rolled his eyes. “Alright, I’ll admit that he doesn’t strike me as the completely straight guy, but who are we to assume his sexuality? Our gaydars may be pretty on point most of the time – and no Simon, you’re not included in that statement – but if his sheet says he’s straight and has had fifteen girlfriends, then maybe that’s all there is to it. I’ve heard he’s quite the extrovert, so it’s not completely out of the question.”

Clary and Simon shared a heavy look, and Alec would have killed not to know what was going on in their minds. Those two tended to turn on Alec faster than he could blink and, since they had already been ganging up on him for the past hour, the mischievous looks on their faces didn’t bode well for him.

“Or _maybe_ you’re just grasping at straws because you don’t want to admit sparks fly when the two of you are together,” Clary suggested, her face the perfect picture of innocence. “Just a guess, of course, I could be wrong.”

“Or _maybe_ he just doesn’t want to think about how many more people – and in this case, men – Magnus might have slept with if he really isn’t as straight as the media paints him out to be,” Simon shrugged, sneaking a glance at Alec from the corner of his eye.

“I hate you both so much.”

And then Alec was jumping onto them, his fingers easily finding Clary’s sides and tickling her until she was breathless. Behind him, Simon tried to tug him away from the redhead or redirect his attention, but Alec wasn’t one to get distracted when he was on a quest. He would get his friends to agree with him if it was the last thing he did.

“Alright, alright!” Clary panted, giggles slipping past her lips as she tried to speak. “Maybe he really is straight and the only thing between the two of you is that infernal rivalry. I yield, Alec, _please_ let me go.”

“Not until your partner in crime admits defeat as well,” Alec grinned wickedly. “You guys chose the wrong person to mess with and, as the First Son of the United States, I won’t stand for the slander you’ve inflicted upon me. Apologise now, Simon, or I’ll keep Clary hostage.”

“Simon, please,” Clary begged, another round of laughter bursting out of her as Alec let his fingers attack her legs – which were surprisingly ticklish. The redhead tried to kick him away from her, but Alec was a lot stronger than she could ever hope to be, and they both knew her only chance at getting out of this was Simon. “Si, seriously, if you don’t tell Alec that you think Magnus and he are the greatest enemies the world has ever seen, I will hide all of your video games for a _month_.”

“Woah, no need to pull out the serious threats!” Simon gasped, clutching his hands to his heart. “But _fine_ , maybe there really is nothing between you and Magnus. I’m not saying I completely believe it, because my gaydar has gotten a lot better over the last few years and is pointing towards a clear connection between the two of you, but there is a chance that all he wants in life is a pretty wife and a dozen children.”

“Four, actually, according to this sheet,” Alec corrected unconsciously, cursing himself internally when both of his friends bit down matching smirks. “I read it a few times, alright? Just to make sure that I was prepared for our first meeting this week-end. The last thing we would want is for this sham of a friendship to be extended just because we didn’t play our parts correctly.”

“Well good luck with that,” Clary snickered, jumping up from the bed and scuttering towards the door. “You’re a terrible liar, Lightwood-Trueblood.”

And she was out of the room before he could say anything to defend himself, which left only Simon as a possible target for his irritation. Clearly, Simon realised that too, because he was dashing out of the room like there were hellhounds on his heels less than ten seconds later.

Alec shook his head fondly at his friend as he hurried out before closing his eyes and thinking about the upcoming week. A single week spent in Magnus’ company, doing things together and taking pictures and being the two perfect political children their families expected them to be.

What could possibly go wrong?

**Author's Note:**

> Heya guys! Thank you so much for reading! And thank you to everyone who was so sweet in the comments of the first fic of the series, it only motivated me to write this one even faster! I'm really enjoying the challenge of mixing Malec into this universe, and hopefully you like it as well! These first two fics have been posted in reading order, but as these fics are written for Em first and foremost, I might sometimes stray off the timeline and write something that's located further in the series' events. Just warning all of you in advance not to be shocked if some of the fics come out of order (;
> 
> Love, Junie. 
> 
> (find me on tumblr @hopesilverheart)


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